Pew Research Npors Us Public Opinion Trends Data

Leo Migdal

-Dec 3, 2025, 10:38 PM

pew research npors us public opinion trends data

Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World This content requires a Pew Research Center account. Please login, or click here to register for an account. 901 E St. NW, Suite 300Washington, DC 20004USA(+1) 202-419-4300 | Main(+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax(+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.

It does not take policy positions. The Center conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, computational social science research and other data-driven research. Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. A staggering 30% response rate. In an era where getting anyone to answer their phone, let alone participate in a survey, feels like a miracle, that number—the response rate of Pew Research Center’s National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS)—is... It signals a potential turning point in how we understand public sentiment, and more importantly, how accurately we can predict future trends.

For years, pollsters have grappled with declining participation and increasingly skewed results, but NPORS offers a surprisingly effective solution, and its implications extend far beyond the world of political science. For decades, researchers relied on methods like random-digit dialing (RDD) to reach a representative sample of the U.S. population. However, the rise of cell phones and the decline of landlines, coupled with a general distrust of institutions, have made these methods increasingly unreliable. Online panels, like Pew’s American Trends Panel (ATP), offered a cost-effective alternative, but they weren’t without their own biases. As Pew Research discovered, ATP estimates sometimes diverged significantly from established benchmarks, particularly regarding religious affiliation and political leaning.

For example, the ATP consistently showed a higher percentage of religiously unaffiliated individuals than other high-quality surveys like the General Social Survey (GSS). Launched in 2020, **NPORS** was designed to address these shortcomings. The key? A multi-modal approach. Unlike many polls that rely solely on online responses, NPORS allows participants to respond via paper mail, online, or telephone. This seemingly simple change has a profound impact.

The paper and telephone options actively draw in demographics—typically more conservative and religious adults—who are less likely to engage with online surveys. This broadened reach is further bolstered by a series of strategic incentives: visible cash payments included with survey mailings, priority mailing to distinguish the survey from junk mail, and a relatively short questionnaire (around... A higher response rate isn’t just about getting more answers; it’s about getting better answers. Lower response rates are more susceptible to nonresponse bias, where the characteristics of those who participate differ systematically from those who don’t. NPORS’ 30% response rate, achieved through these deliberate design choices, significantly reduces this bias, leading to more accurate and reliable estimates of public opinion. This is crucial for everything from political forecasting to understanding social trends.

NPORS isn’t just a poll; it’s a “reference” survey. This means it serves as a benchmark against which other surveys can be calibrated. Pew Research Center now weights its American Trends Panel (ATP) data to align with NPORS estimates for key demographics like political affiliation and religious identity. This process, similar to how the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) is used for calibration, ensures that the ATP data more accurately reflects the broader U.S. population. The advantage of NPORS over other reference surveys, like the ANES, is its timeliness – data is available much faster, allowing for quicker adjustments and more responsive analysis.

Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take positions on policy issues. See "The Databank" menu or the "Projects of the Center" section to view statistics and download data. Polling the Nations A compilation of questions and responses from more than 12,000 national, state, local and special surveys, conducted by 700 polling organizations in the United States and 70 other countries from 1986... Each record in the database consists of one poll question and the participants answers. Only 4 simultaneous users can access Polling the Nations.

The Roper Center for Public Opinon Research maintains a vast archive of 18,000 public opinion datasets. The majority of datasets pertain to the U.S. but data from over 50 nations is also represented. RoperExpress allows you to download the data and documentation directly from the Roper site. You must register and create an individual account in order to download. This text details the Pew Research Center’s NPORS, a survey designed to improve the accuracy of estimates regarding Americans’ political and religious affiliations.

Here’s a breakdown of the key points: Purpose: To provide high-quality benchmarks for weighting other polls, specifically regarding political (Republican, Democrat, Independent) and religious affiliations. Previous Method: Previously, Pew used the average of results from thier cellphone and landline RDD surveys as a benchmark. Improvement over ATP: NPORS improves upon the earlier ATP (American Trends Panel) survey, which wasn’t weighted to benchmarks for religious affiliation and wasn’t used to estimate the overall share of religiously affiliated Americans. Data Collection: Conducted by Ipsos (2020-2023) and now by SSRS. NPORS achieves a higher response rate than typical polls through several key features:

Multiple Response Options: Allows responses via paper mail, online, or phone.This attracts more conservative and religious individuals who are less likely to respond to online-only surveys. Monetary Incentives: Offers cash incentives ($2 initial, $10 upon completion online; $5 visible bill wiht paper survey). Priority Mailing: Uses USPS Priority Mail for paper surveys, signaling importance and reducing the chance of being discarded as junk mail. Short Questionnaire: Keeps the survey concise (around 40 questions, 7 minutes to complete). Bilingual Materials: Provides surveys in both English and spanish in areas with significant Hispanic populations. No Panel Requirement: Doesn’t require respondents to join a survey panel.

“Reference” meaning: NPORS is designed as a “reference” survey,meaning it’s a high-quality survey used to calibrate and improve the accuracy of other,larger surveys. This concept is based on research in survey methodology. Comparison to other reference surveys: While not as large as the American Community Survey (ACS) or Current Population Survey (CPS), NPORS serves a similar function. When The Pew Charitable Trusts created Pew Research Center in 2004, we were surveying Americans using the established industry method at the time: calling people on their landline phones and hoping they’d answer. As the Center marked its 20th anniversary last year, survey methods have become more diverse, and we now conduct most of our interviews online. Public opinion itself has also changed in major ways over the last 20 years, just as the country and world have.

Here’s a closer look at how Americans’ views and experiences have evolved on topics ranging from technology and politics to religion and social issues. The past two decades have witnessed the emergence of all sorts of technologies that let people interact with the world in new ways. For instance, 63% of U.S. adults used the internet in 2004, and 65% owned a cellphone (we weren’t yet asking about smartphones). Today, 95% of U.S. adults browse the internet, and 90% own a smartphone, according to our surveys.

Social media was just taking off in 2004, the year Mark Zuckerberg launched “The Facebook” (as it was known then) from his Harvard dorm room. Since then, Americans have widely adopted social media. These platforms have also become a key source of news for the U.S. public, even as concerns about misinformation and national security have grown. Meanwhile, many traditional news organizations have struggled. In 2004, daily weekday newspaper circulation in the U.S.

totaled around 55 million. By 2022, that had fallen to just under 21 million. Newspapers’ advertising dollars and employee counts have also decreased. Digitized items from libraries around the world Ask a question 24/7 and a librarian from BC or another institution will help you. Send us a question and we'll get back to you within a day.

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Pew Research Npors Us Public Opinion Trends Data

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